REPRESENTING JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN 100 COUNTRIES ACROSS SIX CONTINENTS

Brazilian Jewish philanthropist Moise Safra passes away

Tue, 17 Jun 2014

World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder has praised Brazilian MoiseSafra, who had passed away on Sunday at the age 79, as “an extraordinary philanthropist and businessman.”

Born into a Syrian Jewish banking family in Aleppo, the Safra family relocated to the Lebanese capital Beirut after the First World War because the city was home to a thriving Jewish community. After facing anti-Jewish riots in Beirut following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, the family moved to Brazil in 1955, where they started working by financing letters of credit for trade in São Paulo.

In 1956, the family divided their businesses, with Edmond settling in Geneva to set up a private bank, the Trade Development Bank. His brothers Joseph and Moise chose to stay in Brazil, where they expanded their banking operations.

MoiseSafra was deeply involved in Jewish community affairs in Brazil, spending a great deal of his time and fortune funding health, education and charity projects and paying for the construction of synagogues and community centers. The Safras stood out among a number of Brazilian families whose businesses grew transnational but also remained loyal to their local roots.

Brazil's Jewish community federation CONIB also conveyed its condolences to the Safra family, calling the late businessman one of the foremost benefactors of the country's Jewish community.

MoiseSafra is survived by his wife Chella, who serves as the treasurer of the World Jewish Congress, and their five children Jacob, Azuri, Edmundo, Esther and Olga.

He was laid to rest at the CemitérioIsraelita do Butanta in São Paulo.

We welcome any comments you may have on this article.
Comments are moderated and we reserve the right to edit or remove any which are derogatory or offensive.
The WJC is not responsible for the content of any comments.

“The notion that a figure such as Stepan Bandera – a Nazi collaborator during the Second World War who is deeply controversial within Ukrainian society and beyond – will be celebrated in this way is deeply troubling."

Rona Ramon was a brave and courageous woman, who taught an entire nation how to gracefully and nobly contend with the greatest griefs. Following the great disasters that took the lives of her husband and child, Mrs. Ramon dedicated her own life to helping others live theirs – not only coping, but also rising from pain and sorrow.

“We are extremely concerned by the steady rise of antisemitic vandalism facing the Jewish community in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. This desecration, as well as the vandalization of cemeteries in Poland and in France in the past week alone, should ring alarm bells for anyone who believes that these incidents are isolated and passing.

The attack is “shocking and dismaying in itself, made all the more distressing by the fact that it took place on Yom Kippur, evoking the terrible tragedies that occurred in German-occupied Poland during the years of the Holocaust,” WJC President Ronald Lauder said.

Cookies allows us to recognise and remember visitors to our website. Cookies are used for various purposes and you can choose which types to accept below. Not allowing cookies may effect the way you are able to interact with the WJC website. Our detailed Cookie Policy can be found here.

Mandatory cookies help make this website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. Our website cannot function properly without these cookies.

Statistics cookies

Statistic cookies help us understand how visitors interact with this website, for example seeing which pages are most popular. This information is collected anonymously and helps us improve the site by making the most sought after information easy to find.

Marketing cookies

Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites allowing the display of ads that are relevant and engaging for the visitor. Whilst we do not display any advertising on the WJC website, allowing marketing cooking may allow other sites to see that you have visited our site.